"Nearly four million dogs and cats are put to death in the U.S. every year because there are not enough good homes. You can help prevent this - always spay or neuter your animals, and if you’re considering adding a dog or cat to your family, please adopt from your local animal shelter."

Read more about PETA's ABC Campaign. One must really applaud PETA's sensational media campaigns. It's everything that we have always talked about when thinking of how to reach the wider audience. Alright, but we're just not quite there yet with splashing paint on fur coats. Or even dressing up as a bear to greet the Queen of England when she visited Singapore.

On the home front, Cat Welfare Society works hard at the TNRM program - that stands for Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage system for "stray" cats. However, does that mean that if you keep cats at home or even a pedigree cat, that means you are excused from neutering your pets?

Recently a friend of mine bought a puppy - a labrador. The cutest girl that I've ever seen. But then when asked if he thought of neutering her, he came up with a blank. Considering that he's a dog trainer / handler with the army, I thought perhaps that he might wish to breed the pedigree but then he said that there are no such plans. That's when I asked him what if there are accidental pregnancies? She is a girl and dogs don't practice contraceptive! I guess I was on the same wavelength as PETA at that moment. Animals need help to practice birth control. Unless you intend to care for your pet and be responsible for its every birth then perhaps this is when you should start thinking about your ABCs.

8 comments:

Hi Monkey - just came across your post and wanted to clarify. TNRM is for community cats because the whole concept is that the cats are Trapped from the streets, Neutered (or sterilised) and then Returned and Managed back in their community. This obviously wouldn't apply to home pets who don't live on the streets, and of course we do advocate sterilisation of home pets.

Our tag line is "Save lives, sterilise" and that applies to all - but we focus on community cats because they are the most vulnerable on the streets. If they keep breeding, then complaints come in and they are killed.

I just wish they would support TNR, which they do not and that they would support no-kill, which again they do not (and in the process have misinterpreted and aligned the good work that no-kill organisations do). I find it very hard to support an organisation that claims to be about animal welfare but does not support either.

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Welcome to the Midnight Monkey Monitor.

This weblog was created in 2003 and named as such due to my penchant for alliteration, a midnight predecessor and my moniker as the leafmonkey, or monkey to most. MMM chronicles my thoughts and reflections on subjects and news related to environmental issues as well as issues of cultural and natural heritage. Read more in About Me.

Since November 2007, most of the writings on this blog has been dedicated to the syndication of Daily Green Actions from my Leafmonkey Twitter account. However, as of 2008, I shall resolve to resume more original writings. Find out more about my projects.